In the past, for an image forming device such as a printer, copying machine, facsimile machine, and electrographic color recording device, an electrostatic latent image has been formed through exposure by an exposing source. The surface of a photoconductor drum is uniformly electrically charged by a charging device. The electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing roller. Then, after the toner image is formed on the photoconductor drum by using toner as the developer, the toner image is transferred and fixed onto the recording medium.
A replaceable toner cartridge is mounted in the process cartridge within the image forming device, for dispensing toner. In addition, because the quality of the image cannot be maintained when the remaining toner within the developing device is below a predetermined value, there has been an image forming device (for instance, refer to Japanese laid-open application publication number H11-38744) that can continue printing after informing a user to replace the toner cartridge by displaying a warning on the display unit of the image forming device while the remaining toner detecting mechanism detects that the available toner has been consumed or is at a low level when toner quantity falls below a prescribed level.
However, with such an apparatus, the timing of the toner out or toner low warning on the display unit is set on the assumption that standard images will be printed. As a result of this, when a user of the image forming device prints image data that differs from a standard image in image area ratio or the like, even though the toner out or toner low warning is displayed, there is a risk that the toner level might decrease more rapidly than estimated or that the quality of the developed image might be degraded due to progressing toner degradation.
In view of the above risk, an objective of the present invention is to provide an image forming device that can maintain the quality of the developed image satisfactorily without depending on the image area ratio or the like contained in the image data.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, an image forming device that relates to the present invention includes an imaging apparatus configured to form an image according to image data and to maintain information associated with performance of the imaging apparatus, a replaceable member that is mounted in the imaging apparatus and used for forming an image, a consumed amount calculation unit configured to calculate a usage value of the replaceable member, and a notification control unit configured to control a replacement notification. Wherein, the notification control unit controls a timing of the replacement notification based on the usage value calculated by the consumed amount calculation unit and the information associated with performance of the imaging apparatus.
Further, the image forming device that relates to the present invention includes an imaging apparatus configured to form an image according to image data and to maintain information associated with performance of the imaging apparatus, a consumable member that is used for image forming, a consumed amount calculation unit configure to calculate a consumption value of the consumable member; and a notification control unit configured to control a replacement notification. Wherein, the notification control unit controls a timing of the replacement notification based on the consumption value and the information associated with the performance of the imaging apparatus.
According to the image forming device that relates to the present invention, the display control of toner low or toner out warnings is modified according to the status of use of the image forming device. Therefore, excellent image quality can be maintained until the toner cartridge is replaced.